You're My Angel
by Lucky Riddle
Summary: When the news of several murders reaches Angel, he is suspicious, but nothing more. Then, when someone close to home is fatally injured, Angel goes after the killer seeking revenge.
1. One

You're My Angel

You're My Angel

By Angel Innocence

"No, you just don't understand. Coffee wakes you up. It-it enlightens you! Tea just makes you lazy and sleepy. While coffee, on the other hand, gives you energy!" Cordelia punched her fist in the air emphatically.

Wesley shook his head. "No, no, I'm sorry Cordelia, but coffee just gives you a temporary sort of boost. Tea gives you a long-lasting comfort," Wesley said, sounding like a bad Tylenol commercial.

Cordelia rolled her eyes. She turned to Angel. "Will you please tell this-this tea freak that coffee is the only way to go?" "Ah, Angel, I'm sure you'll understand that tea overrules coffee by a large percentile?" Wesley countered.

Angel simply raised his eyebrows as if to say, _Oh, you want my opinion now? _

"Angel?" Cordelia demanded. She threw up her hands. "Fine. _Fine._ Whatever. As long as we're all on the same page, even if some of us are in denial about it-" she shot a look at Wesley, "that's all that matters." She smiled and walked out of the room.

Wesley sighed and leaned against the desk, rubbing his forehead. "What do you really think?" he asked Angel. "About the coffee vs. tea? I prefer coffee, myself. But tea is good, too," Angel added hastily. 

Wesley shook his head vehemently. "About Cordelia. How do you think she's doing?"

Angel sighed. Losing Harmony had been hard on her, no doubt, no matter how much she tried to pretend it didn't. Wesley didn't seem to mind, he'd hated Harmony from the start. And after all, it wasn't like she was dead or something.

Wait.

_Scratch that_, Angel noted. It wasn't like she was dusted.

_Well, you can't have it all_. Angel sighed again.

"Stop that," Wesley commanded. Angel looked up, surprised. "What?" "That sighing. It's quite unsettling." "Sorry." Angel frowned. "So?" "So what?" Wesley let out a whoosh of air, exasperated. _"What do you think about Cordelia?"_ Wesley said again, spelling it out for him. 

"Oh." Angel thought. "I think she's doing well." "Do you?" Wesley seemed slightly surprised. Angel nodded. "I mean, she can't be too bad if she's already starting an argument with you about whether coffee is better than tea."

That got a smile even from Wesley. "I suppose you're right," he agreed. "I just worry about her sometimes." 

"I do too," Angel responded.

There was a moment of silence. Then, "Well, I must be off. I promised Veronica I'd bring her the books she wanted today. Gunn should be back soon, he's out visiting Michael." Wesley gathered up some papers and a large, encyclopedia-like book from the shelf and left.

Angel sat back and glanced at the police report in front of him. Kate had sent it over, with a note saying it looked right up his alley. The report was a murder of two sixteen-year old boys living on the streets. When the police reached them, they found all of the air simply sucked out of them. Their lungs were empty, and there was no blood or physical harm. 

Except, of course, the lack of oxygen thing. 

Angel frowned. He didn't have a clue what to do.


	2. Two

Cordelia sat in her office pouring over fashion magazines

Cordelia sat in her office pouring over fashion magazines. She took a long sip of coffee. _Ah_, she thought. _Who does Wesley think he is comparing tea to coffee?_ She absentmindedly turned the page. _He could've at least picked something-wow, that is a cute shirt. _

Suddenly Angel came in. "Cordelia?" he said. She jumped and splattered coffee all over the picture of the halter top shirt. "Angel!" She glared at him. "When are you going to learn that sneaking up on people, especially people with hot coffee in their hand, is not a good idea? I mean, the can't-see-you-in-mirrors thing is creepy enough, but -" Cordelia stopped, seeing the look on his face. "What?"

"Kate called." He set the police report on her desk. She flipped through it. "All the air was completely _gone_? Just like that?" Angel nodded.

"Eww." Cordelia shuddered. "Seems like before they took the air, they immobilized the victims. The doctors found some kind of poison injected in the bodies-" "Who exactly is 'they'?" Cordelia interrupted. "I don't know," Angel said simply. 

Cordelia thought for a moment. "Where's Gunn?" "With Michael." Cordelia sighed. "That kid is bad news. He actually had the nerve to ask me if I liked his shirt. Like I _cared_. Where's Wesley?" "With Veronica." "Oh."

Cordelia was silent. Then, "So what's the plan?" "I want to go check out where it happened. See if we can find anything." Cordelia groaned and laid her head on her desk. "You know, this job gets better and better every day," she grumbled. "I'll get my coat."

* * *

Gunn sat in the waiting room of The Spider, where Michael and his buddies lived. You can't call this a waiting room, Gunn thought, looking around at the grayish walls and chipped paint. Heck, this ain't even a room. 

Michael came out then, followed by CJ and Rocky, two of the other boys. "So?" Gunn inquired. Michael sat down. "Last week, Damon, one of the guys here, went to find this kid. He wanted to bring the kid back here." "So he left around seven or so," CJ spoke up. "Well, Damon got there fine. He had the kid, and they were making their way back here." "They must've been no more than a block away. But they were attacked," Rocky said. Gunn leaned forward. "By who?" CJ shook his head. "Not who. What." "We heard a scream, and we followed it to the next street. Damon and the kid, Jake, were just lying there, mouths open and eyes shut in terror," Michael picked up. "We called the police, but they seemed pretty suspicious. Seemed to thing we'd set it all up." I wonder why, Gunn thought to himself. "But they did file a report. They took Damon and Jake away for an autopsy. Said they'd poisoned, then suffocated." Michael shook his head, as if he was insulted. "The police kind of blew it off. Said it could've been some kind of ordinary gang fight. But it wasn't. No way." "How can you tell?" "We went back later. Found a trail of huge, clawed footprints. No gang member could've done that." Michael looked proud of his detective work. 

Gunn stood up. "Thanks, guys. I gotta get goin'." "You'll tell us if you find anything, right?" Rocky shouted. Gunn waved and ran off into the night, towards Angel Investigations.


	3. Three

Cordelia stepped over a pile of something green. "Ew," she said to herself. "I have to ask Angel for a pay raise after we get out of here."   
She glanced up at Angel, who was a few feet in front of her. "Anything?" she asked. Angel paused for a moment. Then, "No."  
  
Cordy sighed. "Why are we here?" "I told you, I wanted to check it out." "Well, you've checked. Now I'm out." Cordy turned. "This is just wrong. I am totally ruining these shoes. Do you know how much these cost? Because unless you're planning to buy me another pair exactly like these, I suggest you -"   
  
Angel held up his hand to silence her. Cordelia stopped. "What?" "I hear somthing..." Angel said. Cordy glanced around nervously. "All the more reason to get out of here, I say." Angel shook his head. "Hold on..."  
  
"ANGEL!!!!!!" Angel spun around to see something huge and grey fly on top of Cordy, knocking her to the ground. The thing pinned her and roared. "ANGEL HELP!!!!!" Angel dived at the thing and sent it flying off of Cordelia. She sat up, dazed.   
  
The thing, whatever it was, took off at top speed. Angel sped off after it. He chased it around the corner. "Oh, Ok! Just leave me here! I'll sit tight til you get back, how about that?!" Cordelia yelled. She glared at where Angel had been. Slowly, she picked herself up and dusted off. "Oh, gross." Cordy glanced down and saw that she had landed right on top of the green stuff. "Angel, if that beast thing doesn't kill you, you can be sure that I will!" Cordy muttered angrily. She turned and started home.  
* * *  
Wesley knocked on Veronica's door with some difficulty, due to the huge pile of books he was carrying. "Veronica?" he called. "Veronica, are you in there?" he kicked at the door.   
  
"Ah!" Wesley cursed silently as his big toe began to throb. "Wonderful." Wesley stooped down as well as he could while trying not to drop everything and turned the door handle.   
  
It was unlocked. Wesley let himself in and closed the door behind him. "Well Veronica, why didn't you just say it was open, would've saved me a lot of -" Welsey turned back around. He stared in horror at the sight that met his eyes.  
  
Dropping all of the books, Wesley fumbled for his cell phone. He dialed quickly. "911?" he said shakily.   
  
  



End file.
